From:
Steven Clift
Date:
Nov 19 16:47 UTC
Short link
It was great to meet many of the people involved in efforts to build
neighbourhood Issues Forums across Oxford the other month.
The E-Democracy.Org model is citizen-based and now is the time to strengthen
that base in Oxford. While we appreciate the role of the Council in promoting
these forums, it is only with local public involvement that they will grow and
become fully "of" the community.
We are planning to increase the role of a community-wide Oxford E-Democracy
Steering Committee made up of volunteers, forum managers, council staff, etc.
who want to help grow our existing forums and spread to the final three
neighborhoods. Ideally, your neighbourhood's forum manager will be joined by at
least one other participant (particularly those interested in outreach) on this
"virtual" and sometimes in-person committee.
Would you like more information? Tell us a bit about yourself and your
interests in using the Internet to build local community. Please e-mail with
"Oxford" in the subject line to:
<email obscured>
In the past when our forums were only city-wide, we had one committee per
forum. Now with multiple forums per community, we plan to shift to one
committee per community to make things more simple and effective.
The committee is essential to provide local governance over the local forums.
This committee guides the overall local forum effort, is a point of appeal for
official rule violations, and will work to help grow participation in your
forums. If a new local forum manager is needed, this committee confirms their
appointment and is there to assist them as well as make sure the civility and
inclusive agenda-setting mission of these forums is met.
As local forum managers replace interim forum manager Shey Cobley (thank you
Shey!) in CSW and Cowley, we want to help you increase the number of
participants on your forums significantly. In my own neighborhood -
http://e-democracy.org/se - where I too volunteer as a forum manager, we've
primarily increased our numbers to 300 with paper sign-up sheets at the right
community events. With a committee in place to push recruitment, we can share
our lessons with you. Imagine what it might mean for your neighborhood if 200,
300 or more people were interacting on local public issues everyday. It can and
will make a real difference in the future of your neighbourhood.
Sincerely,
Steven Clift
E-Democracy.Org